Credit goes to Jess Myers, a friend and NCAA hockey freelance writer in Minneapolis, for coming up with that moniker in 1999 or 2000 — a year or so after then-St. Cloud State Huskies defenseman Jeff Finger was drafted by the Avalanche.

Adam Foote was playing for the Avs at the time, and Myers wondered out loud from the WCHA Final Five in St. Paul: “How funny will it be if Finger joins Colorado and plays on the blue line with Foote . . . And the announcer goes, ‘Finger slides it to Foote.'”

Well, the extrebound to happen, after Colorado gave up a first-round draft pick (this year or 2009) on Tuesday for Footer. Footer might play in Calgary tonight, and Finger might return to the lineup from injury.

Maybe now Colorado can acquire Jonathan Toews, whose family probably changed the pronunciation of his last name to “TAVES” to get away from being an extremity.

Busy time of year for me, with general assignment duties, which explains why I haven’t blogged my passion sport lately. But I’ve had plenty of time to collect some notes and get them out of my head, which, BTW, is still spinning since hanging around Damien Goddard from Let’s Go DU.com and other never-die Pio puckers during last weekend’s Denver Cup.

Goddard lives in Houston and came out for the tournament. If you think you’re the biggest DU fan, you should compare yourself to Big D. He’s one-of-a-kind. He introduced me to a bunch of folks that read my blog and our stories in the paper. Great times. I had a blast, boys, and will never underestimate your passion for college hockey!

THIN ICE. What happens in the locker room stays in the locker room. Which is why DU players aren’t going public on what the three CC guys did to get suspended last week. The Tigers’ Chad Rau (one game), Derek Patrosso (until March) and Cody Lampl (until Jan. ’09) each got suspended by the school for undisclosed reasons. Since CC’s Mike Testwuide is the brother of DU’s J.P. Testwuide, the Pios have a good idea what happened — from J.P. hearing it from his younger brother or from the Vail-based parents. My take: this is a family matter between two programs, and you have to respect the DU guys for not throwing their rivals under the bus — just because they can. It also shows a lot of respect for the Testwuides, who can be brothers without having to worry that their teammates are going to interfere with that bond. Plus, let’s face it: college students sometimes make bad decisions, and they’re much harder to hide when you play hockey at DU or CC. The guys on both teams are in the same fishbowl.

MANNO. Before the Denver Cup I predicted that DU goalie Peter Mannino was going to get career shutout No. 13 in the tournament, tying Gerry Powers for first in program history. I told him so, and Pete reminded me of that after Saturday’s championship game. Another prediction: He’ll have 2-3 more by the end of the season.

RUEGS. Lakewood native and DU soph Tyler Ruegsegger scored Monday in a win against Finland and is fifth in Team USA scoring with four points (two goals) at the World Juniors. Can anyone think of another Colorado native that has had a better amatuer hockey career before the age of 21?

AFA tie. Good for the Falcons, who rallied to tie Minnesota 2-2 Saturday in the consolation game of the Holiday Classic in Minneapolis. Air Force poured salt on the gaping wound that is Gophers hockey, and made the AHA 1-0-1 against the Lemon Heads in the tournament.

BROOKWELL. DU coaches refer to D-man Cody Brookwell as “The Big Guy.” The 6-foot-4 sophomore is much more than a big kid; he’s playing this year like he owns the defensive end of the ice. I told George Gwozdecky that Brookwell reminds me of former captain Bryan Vines, and George agreed. Big, tough, smart, good feet. And a great on-ice leader because of unselfish play. You don’t see Brookwell in the offensive zone much, but man, he’s impossible to miss at the other end.

SETH APPERT. The former DU assistant, now in his second year as the bench boss at RPI, went 0-2 against Rico Blasi and Miami a few weeks ago in a matchup between former Pio assistants, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg of RPI’s blown opportunities this season. Seth and his boys had Minnesota beat to begin the season, only to see the Gophers rally — big time, like they did against Air Force in March at the Pepsi Center — and then CC performed the same trick on Saturday in Tampa, Fla. Still, Seth has those guys going in a good direction.

Happy new year. It’s a little after midnight, so 2008 has begun, and I have to go speak to the neighbors that are shooting fireworks off in my front yard and waking up my son. The first warning didn’t work. Next time I’ll show them to the new hockey stick I got for Christmas, but, you know, that’s off the record.

BTW, I was just reminded that … you know you’re getting old if, 1) The New Years party next door is bothering you. 2) You’re not at that party. 3) You’re trying to sleep during that party. — MC

The perfect scenario for Nebraska football fans would be to: A) watch the Cornhuskers defeat Colorado on Friday in Boulder, B) have interim athletic director Tom Osborne fire head coach Bill Callahan on Saturday, C) have Nebraska earn a bowl bid, and D) get the new coach on board in time to coach the Huskers in the bowl so he gets a jump on next season.

Media members in Nebraska seem to like the Huskers’ chances at Folsom Field – a lot. Granted, the match-up between Nebraska quarterback Joe Ganz and a Colorado secondary likely to missing its top cover corner Terrence Wheatley (foot injury) doesn’t look pretty for the Buffaloes.

Former Gophers hockey beat writer John Gilbert wrote for us off Sunday’s game in Minneapolis but his entire story didn’t make it in the paper. John tried to “capture the spirit of the thing” by looking at Tyler Bozak’s game-tying goal, in which the freshman whiffed at the first shot before burying the second. It was a good angle, although some might consider it an attempt to knock Bozak. I think it might help folks understand that Bozak, who had a hat trick Sunday and leads the team with five goals, is already shaping up to be a fine young sniper.

MINNEAPOLIS, MN. — Freshman Tyler Bozak was willing to play the role a little bit after his three goals led Denver to a 4-1 victory and a rare sweep over Minnesota, before 9,898 fans at Mariucci Arena, so when someone jokingly asked if he had been practicing a fake shot, he went for it.

“Yeah, I’ve used that trick before and sometimes it works to let you see what the goalie is going to do,” said Bozak, trying to look as if he meant it. Only a freshman, from Regina, Saskatchewan, Bozak might be less experienced at handling interviews than in putting pucks in nets, but he caught on quick. Later he laughed about also taking mulligans in golf, and admitted that it probably was the first time he had ever scored a goal after completely whiffing on a shot.

The play was in the first period, after Blake Wheeler had put the Golden Gophers ahead 1-0 in their quest to reverse Friday’s 5-1 loss to the Pioneers – and to avoid starting the WCHA 0-4 for the first time in the program’s history. At 16:13, Bozak wound up with the puck, wide open, at
the right edge of the slot, 15 feet out. He swung hard and freshman goaltender Alex Kangas dropped to his knees, but Bozak had fanned on his shot and the puck continued to slide harmlessly to the right. No problem. Bozak reloaded, and snapped his second try from the wider angle
into a much more open net for the 1-1 tie.

“Luckily,” Bozak laughed, “it worked out for a goal.”

Bozak was wearing the Pioneers’ tribute hard hat after the game, presented to the key performer in the game. It was only fitting, since he had scored a hat trick, which perhaps should be called a “hard-hat trick.” All three goals were the kind of opportunistic goals that seem to be the private domain of true goal-scorers, and while Bozak is one of
those, he also had worked hard, every shift, to give the Pioneers their first sweep at Minnesota in 13 years.

“Bozak was probably our best faceoff guy this weekend,” said coach George Gwozdecky. “He has a special gleam in his eye when he knows he’s going out there to take a faceoff. He also was the leading scorer in the
BC (British Columbia junior) League last year, so we know he’s a scorer, and can finish around the net. On that goal, there aren’t many players in the league that could recover and score the way he did.”

DU and CC are the only teams ranked in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll that have only played opponents in that top-15 poll. In other words, the Pios and Tigers have played two of the toughest schedules in the country so far.

DU (6-2) gained two spots, to No. 5, after sweeping Minnesota in Minneapolis. The Pios previously split with No. 15 Minnesota-Duluth, split at No. 12 Notre Dame, and swept No. 11 Maine. The combined record of DU opponents is 18-10-2.

CC (3-3) gained one spot, to ninth, after splitting at No. 4 North Dakota. The Tigers previously were swept at No. 7 New Hampshire and began the Front Range dominance over the Lemon Heads with a home sweep over Minnesota. The combined record of CC opponents is 12-7-1.

Want to get your thoughts, people. Need to prove to my editors (and me, too) that this blog isn’t a waste of time. — MC

I had a nice chat with AFA coach Frank Serratore after the Falcons’ 6-2 win against Mercyhurst on Saturday at the Academy. The former DU bench boss made a great point. Minnesota is Minnesota, no matter what year it is.

We were talking about DU’s 5-1 win on Friday in Minneapolis, and I was reminded of the conversation after the Pioneers completed their rare sweep Sunday with a 4-1 win. It was DU’s first double-dip win in at Mariucci Arena since 1994.

‘Sota is ‘Sota, and a combined 9-2 sweep up north, or even out west, is an accomplishment that, well, a bad or average team just doesn’t produce, no matter how much the Gophers are struggling. Minnesota didn’t impress me when they opened the season at CC, but the Tigers were the better team and the Gophs (15 NHL draft picks) are still as talented as any team in the country. Yeah, they’re in an offensive funk and missing Avs-drafted forwards Ryan Stoa and Mike Carman, but don’t diminish DU’s sweep just because of that.

DU was impressive in every way, and goes into its bye week in terrific shape at 6-2, 3-1 WCHA. The ‘D’ has some great size and keeps things wide, and when there are rebounds I like how everyone collapses to find the puck to slap it away or think transition. The forwards have far more depth than I thought at the start of the season. Trotter, Ruegsegger and Rakhshani have a good supporting cast, and not just from the terrific freshmen of Bozak, Maiani, Ostrow and Martin. Senior Tom May has had a good season (and by the way, I thought his CFB major Sunday was a boarding minor), and I think sophomore Brian Gifford is going to have a fine year.

And goaltending … I said this from Day 1, there isn’t a better GT in the country than Pete Mannino. He’s got it all. His experience is second to none and, if you know the guy, you see the kind of competitive hunger that every coach (or fan) dreams of.

Sure, Tony Lucia could have closed it to 3-2 during May’s major in the final five minutes and changed everything, but instead of reaching the wide-open net he shot right into Mannino. Perhaps Lucia’s errant shot was the sign of the times for Minnesota, but I’d like to think Mannino had gotten into the Goph’s minds by then. It all starts in goal, and DU has got a gem between the iron.

It’s still early, but DU looks rock solid and already has collected wins that likely will count torwards bonus points when the Pairwise Rankings comes out in January. In addition to sweeping Maine at home, the Pios have won three of four games at Notre Dame and Minnesota. Those might count as big bonus road wins. And the split against a good Duluth team wasn’t bad (unless you can’t forget DU’s 43-13 shots advantage in the loss).

Overall, DU’s opponents — all from the Big Four conferences — are a combined 18-10-2, with only Minnesota (4-4) not owning a winning record.

That’s a heckuva start for a team that has 19 underclassmen on a 27-player roster. — MC

Scribling tonight from Air Force, which is flying high after trailing 2-0 to Mercyhurst early. The Falcons, who rallied to win 6-2, are nothing if not unpredictable. Good Falcons, bad Falcons. They lost 4-0 last weekend to previously winless Bentley, and Friday they lost 5-3 (with an empty netter) to the previously winless Lakers.

Splitting to Bentley and Mercyhurst will not get Air Force in the regular-season rankings for the first time in its history. But I see potential, and still think the Falcons will will again have the chance to represent the AHA in the NCAA Tournament.

Moving on … Really pleased to see DU and CC post HUGE wins Friday and Saturday in Minneapolis and Grand Forks, respectively.

The Tigers’ split is undoubtedly a “good” split (always is on the road, and we’re talking North Dakota here, so that’s a bonus). I was getting a little worried about the Tigers, losing three straight and all, but they’re 3-3 against visiting Minny, at UNH and at NoDak, and that’s not bad. Outside of Miami, I doubt any team in the country would mind being 3-3 after that stretch.

We’ll see if the Pios can sweep at ‘Sota Sunday. I was scheduled to go on that trip before Rocktober killed our travel budget, and I would have loved to see Gopher Nation heading home early in DU’s big 5-1 win Friday, but we should have a good series wrapup story in Monday’s paper from John Gilbert, a former Gopher beat writer for the Star Tribune.

Bottom line: This STILL is going to be a great season for Front Range NCAA hockey. — MC